


Keep Dancing

by sweetiejelly



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-12
Updated: 2011-11-12
Packaged: 2017-10-25 23:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/276083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetiejelly/pseuds/sweetiejelly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coda to 3x05. Mike is full of emotions after opening night of McKinley's production of "West Side Story." Tina is there for him, as is Mama Chang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Dancing

Mike sits quietly in their booth at Breadstix, sipping water. The straw’s thinned from where he bit it between his front teeth. The cold travels in, in, all the way down his body, irrigating his systems the way his father used to explain to him. Biology – that’s important to know, for a future doctor. Biology – how the muscles from his father and the grace from his mother translate into his dancing, in the way he’s able to make three hundred and sixty degree jumps and stick the landings. Biology – how a lousy chromosome makes you related although you cannot relate.

Tina rests her head on his shoulder, a warm comforting weight. She doesn’t talk about the obvious, about the empty seat in the auditorium, the one reserved for Mike’s father. She doesn’t talk about his mother either, how she put on a brave face and clapped for two. Tina says nothing at all except _I love you_ and _I’m here for you_. All night that is all she says, in the warmth of her smile and in the tight clutch of her arm around his arm. “Want to get out of here?” She tilts her head to look at him.

And Mike knows what Tina’s talking about. They have this abandoned playground where they go, their own secret world. “You’re sure?” He points his chin at where Brittany and Santana are feeding each other, where Artie’s engrossed in deep conversation with Puckerman and Mercedes and where Qinn’s looking off into space, deep in thought the way she has these days. “You don’t want to stay longer?” He pets at her hair fondly. It’s curled tonight, for her role in the musical. It feels tougher in his hand than her usual silk, which is fitting.

She scoffs lightly. “Are you kidding? If I have to watch that new kid Rory make eyes at Brittany one more time tonight, I’m going to puke.” Somehow that’s the thing that brings a smile to Mike’s face. “Okay, let’s go.”

The swings are all free, like on all the previous nights they sneaked out here. Tina takes a seat and starts kicking, higher and higher into the air. Mike watches her go, marvels at the way she moves, free and unreserved, _Tina_. She is this passionate sliding down on him on top of the slide. She is this passionate singing in her shower. She is this passionate always. All of the sudden she jumps off. “Come here,” she opens her arms.

Mike goes into them easily, his muscles remembering all the ways they want to be near hers. Her hands come up and rest in his hair, cradling. “Did I ever tell you how good you were tonight?” She kisses into the bit of neck that she could reach. And that’s what finally breaks him. Tina cradles him to her, rocking back and forth, back and forth as he weeps on the lapel of her coat. “I’m sorry,” he says over and over. “I’m sorry.”

They both know he’s apologizing for more than ruining her coat. Anyway her coat is not ruined. A wash and all will be clean. He wishes everything else is as easy. But his father’s words, his own words echo back to him, cold as the winter wind. _Not your father. Not your son._

Then Tina’s kissing him, lightly on his cheek and then on his lips, taking the salt away. “Don’t you ever apologize for being brilliant.” She wipes away the tears on his other cheek. “Your dancing is special. _You’re_ special, Mike.”

Mike holds these familiar refrains to his chest like a treasure. He nods, a small smile on his lips. “If you say so.” He kisses her so it’s unmistakable what he means by that.

Tina kisses him back the same way. And she holds him and cuddles tight against him as they start their routine of naming stars and dreaming dreams.

When Mike gets home, his mother is curled up on the sofa, asleep. He pulls a blanket over her and tucks her in. He’s calmer now, after his Tina time. But the sight of his mom alone in the living room makes his heart clench. He knows his parents have been fighting, because of him. He knows this is all his fault.

He hears footsteps and looks up to see his father in the doorway. His face is closed off, hard in the way that Mike knows there’s no getting through. Mike swallows uneasily and moves his weight from foot to foot.

“Wipe that nonsense off your face before bed,” his father snaps before walking away.

Too tired to argue, Mike makes his way upstairs to his room. He’s a more than a little surprised when he sees the vase of roses on his desk. He opens the card tucked underneath. “Mike – you were brilliant, baby. Keep dancing. Love, mom.”

He reads it again and again and smiles into the moonlight. It will be all right, somehow.


End file.
